Hannah Busch
eatures and Special Publications Editor
Hannah began writing for APN newspapers in Hervey Bay and Maryborough in 2011, writing about everything from the prize-winning sausages to murder trials. She joined the team at the Queensland Times in early 2014 as editor of City Heart and Roughin It magazines.

The last of 125 speeches totalling 21 hours by MPs on same-sex marriage wrapped up late on Wednesday night, paving the way for a potential final vote today. MPs will be able to propose and consider amendments, before voting on the legislation itself. (Times in AEDT)

Overview of the final vote on the Marriage Amendment Bill in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra, Thursday, December 7, 2017. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch)

6pm AEDT

Australia has done it! The same sex marriage bill has passed the House of Representatives, making same sex marriage legal across the country.

"Today will be a day we look back on and be one of those days you remember," Plibersek said while revealing she would not support the final amendment.

"You will remember exactly where you were when this legislation passed, exactly what you were doing when this legislation passed.

Parliament's public gallery was packed as people watched the bill become law. Deputy opposition leader Tanya Plibersek told Parliament everyone would remember exactly where they were when this bill was passed.

The house broke into a standing ovation as the bill was agreed to, before it had even been voted on, and the public gallery began to sing.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said it was time for more marriages and more love.

"What a day for love, for equality for respect," he said.

"For every one of us, this is a great day."

Greens MP Adam Bandt announced love has won in Australia.

5pm AEDT

The final amendment

MP Sarah Henderson is arguing for freedom of speech and freedom of religion. The second half of the amendment is to protect civil celebrants who want to have the option to object to marrying a same-sex couple.

Just so every one knows, there's a vote on this amendment, then a vote that the bill stand as printed and then a final vote.

Like all amendments that have come before it today, the Nationals MP's second and final set of amendments for religious protections, has been voted down. Ayes: 60. Noes: 85. There's one amendment left - from Sarah

Henderson - to be considered before the vote on legislation.

Ministers Christopher Pyne and Kelly O'Dwyer have done as they promised and voted against all the amendments.

4.20pm AEDT

Andrew Broad's first amendments have been voted down

Ayes: 52. Noes: 86. Another step closer to the vote on legislation. Broad is now moving his second round of amendments about religious protections.

4pm AEDT

Bob Katter takes the floor

MP Bob Katter has stirred reaction from the public galleries while arguing for amendments to the marriage equality bill to protect religious freedoms.

"L-G-B-T, whatever the hell it is...I have no idea what it is...you'll probably change it," Katter said.

"I refuse to use the word g-a-y."

The member for Kennedy's comments came as he expressed confusion as to why people in relationships want to use the term 'marriage'.

He then read out the definition of gay: 'Beautiful, light, happy and ethereal".

The gallery broke into applause.

"They are proud of it," a bemused Katter responded.

"I would be embarrassed to go around calling myself all these wonderful adjectives."

"They took the word gay off us...now they're taking the word marriage off us."

Queenslander @GChristensenMP has a go at the public gallery for "cheering the erosion of religious liberty".

The Law Council of Australia has made a last-minute appeal for members to reject amendments: "The bill already strikes the right balance between protecting the right to religious freedom and right to be free from discrimination."

The Liberal MP has risen to defend Michael Sukkar's amendments saying almost five million people in Australia had voted No to same-sex marriage.

"It respects traditional marriage while allowing same sex marriage to take place," he said.

He said protections for freedom of conscience, religion and parental choice would make the bill a "unifying occasion".

Mr Sukkar's amendments would have created two categories of marriage and would also have given new celebrants the ability to refuse to marry couples if they hold a "genuine religious or conscientious belief".

Similar amendments moved in the Senate by Liberal senators James Paterson and David Fawcett were rejected.

Mr Abbott said existing celebrants will already be given this right and this should be extended to new celebrants.

Currently under the bill, two categories of celebrants would be created: "religious celebrants" who would be able to refuse to marry couples on religious grounds, and "civil celebrants" who would not.

The protection of religious freedoms will be dealt with separately next year after former immigration minister Philip Ruddock and a panel reviews whether Australian law adequately protects the human right to religious freedom.

But Mr Abbott said these should have been dealt with before politicians were asked to vote on the bill, as promised by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.

10.23am

It's looking increasingly likely SSM bill will be passed today

Labor has said it will not be supporting any amendments.

"We need to get this done," Labor's Mark Dreyfus said.

MPs are currently considering an amendment from Liberal MP Michael Sukkar that would have created two categories of marriage, one between a "man and a woman", and another between "two people".

Both Labor and Greens have also said won't support the amendments.

It looks like the bill will be voted on by lunchtime today.

10.05am

Greens try to pass amendments

Adam Bandt was also unsuccessful in getting changes passed to tighten rules around civil celebrants refusing to conduct same-sex marriages.

9.50am

Tony Abbott defends his amendment

In a tweet shortly after his motion was considered, Mr Abbott tweeted that he moved the amendment for those who take religious freedom seriously.

Mr Abbott's amendments would have wrecked the SSM bill's passage but he didn't try to force them to a full vote.

The former Prime Minister said he relented out of respect for the Yes voters.

Liberal MP Warren Entsch gave a final second reading speech on the bill and said a clerk had confirmed if an amendment from Tony Abbott was carried "it will stop the progress of the bill".

Mr Abbott moved a rare "pious amendment" that would have halted debate and forced it to restart again.

Mr Abbott's amendment was not supported and the bill has now moved to the next step.

Mr Entsch also called out Bob Katter's speech last night, saying: "His pathetic attempts of humour, insensitivity and grossly misleading comments were devoid of any facts and were highly offensive, embarrassing and cringe-worthy.

"They need to be called out for what they are. His speech exemplifies what the LGBTI community have had to endure to so long."

9.25am

Amendments to be considered

Several government MPs, including Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, have said they will support - or at least consider - amendments to be put forward by their conservative colleagues - namely Andrew Hastie and Michael Sukkar.

Labor will oppose any change, as will cabinet minister Christopher Pyne who branded some of the amendments "superfluous" and "unnecessary".

If the bill passes unchanged from the one that cleared the Senate last week, it will become law.

If changes are successful, the bill will have to return to the Senate for approval.

7.30am

Bob Katter delivers bizarre speech on same-sex marriage

Just after 10pm last night Bob Katter decided he would join his colleagues in the House of Representatives and share his thoughts on same-sex marriage.

It was quite the eye-opener.

Mr Katter began his rambling address by criticising the debate as "drivel" and noting that no one seems to get married in North Queensland anyway.

"Down in the pub, in the real world, where I live and other people live, I walked into the pub and said, 'Bobby, I'm going bush, mate, before they make it compulsory,' and everyone roared laughing. But you don't live in that world. You don't live in that world where real people live. You live down here, where you listen to this incredible concoction of drivel."

Mr Katter said he had been accused of being anti-homosexual but said people should read his book ("only $29 at all best-selling bookshops") which mentioned a "humorous" story about a homosexual friend.

In another strange twist he then acknowledged he was not proud of his party being considered an anti-homosexual party.

"As a party - and I am not particularly proud of this - we started out our life with an advertisement, which was a most unpleasant advertisement. I agreed to it, so I will take the blame, along with everyone else. It established us as a very anti-homosexual party."

Despite the admission, Mr Katter then went on to brag about how high the party's vote had been in the Queensland election.

He later started rambling about genetics, AIDS and the "vanishing race".

Bob Katter. Picture Gary Ramage

"The people advocating this proposition tonight, the LGBTIs, have maybe 60 years on their side. I have 3.5 million years of genetic programming on my side, because we human beings, they tell us, have been around for 3.5 million years," he said.

"One thing that is absolutely certain is that we've all developed from heterosexual couples. That is one thing we know absolutely - up until the last 40 years, anyway.

"There is something going wrong here. We have an extraordinary incidence of homosexual behaviour in Australia compared with other nations."

Then made extraordinary allegations about children getting AIDS.

"You talk about equality. They wanted equality in the giving of blood. They said, 'We as homosexuals have a right to give blood,' so they did, and I think 72 children were injected with AIDS from the blood that was given. It was hushed up. It was amazing to me that it never got any publicity at all."

His bizarre address hit its zenith when Mr Katter started talking about Australia being a vanishing race.

"Mr Deputy Speaker, there is an ultimate statement upon a race of people, and that is that they simply vanish from the gene pool.

"If you take out my cousin-brothers, the First Australians, and if you take out the migrant population in Australia - recent migrants - then we have the lowest birthrate on earth.

"We are a vanishing race. Bob Birrell, the demographer from Melbourne, wrote an article in which he said that the current population of Australia is 22 million and within 100 years the population of Australia will be 7,000. I thought, 'This is ridiculous!' I went down to check it in the library. He said that when 20 Australians die they're replaced by only 17 people, and if that happened five times over a century then we would go from 21 million or 22 million people - whatever it was at the time - down to seven million people."

At this point, Leader of the House of Representatives, Christopher Pyne interjected: "Bobby, this is rubbish".

Katter retorted: "I don't know; you might be a member of the vanishing race. You'd better shut up because you will be shortly if I lose my temper. I finally conclude on this - "

At which point Deputy Speaker Mark Coulton finally broke in: "Order! The member's time has expired."